Messi loses his cool

Roma's Leandro Castan (centre) gets in between Barcelona's Lionel Messi (right) and Roma's Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa during the scuffle. Picture: Francisco Seco

Roma's Leandro Castan (centre) gets in between Barcelona's Lionel Messi (right) and Roma's Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa during the scuffle. Picture: Francisco Seco

Published Aug 6, 2015

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Barcelona - Lionel Messi was at the centre of a head-butting controversy on Wednesday as Barcelona cruised to a 3-0 victory over Serie A side Roma in a pre-season friendly at the Nou Camp.

The Argentinian superstar, renowned for rarely losing his cool despite regularly being the target of brutal tackling, reacted angrily during a confrontation with Roma's French international Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa.

Footage of the first-half incident showed Messi aiming a head-butt at Yanga-Mbiwa after the Roma defender appeared to nod his head in the direction of the diminutive South American star.

A furious Messi grabbed Yanga-Mbiwa by the throat after clashing with the defender before other players rushed over to intervene.

Messi escaped a red card for the incident, however, receiving only a caution from referee Javier Estrada Fernandez. Yanga-Mbiwa was also booked.

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The flashpoint represented a rare loss of cool for Messi. The Argentine has never been sent off for Barcelona and has only ever been red-carded once - on his international debut as a teenager in 2005.

Messi's anger soon subsided as moments after the incident, he doubled Barcelona's lead, making it 2-0 following a superb flowing move involving Luis Suarez, Dani Alves and Neymar, who had scored Barca's first.

Ivan Rakitic made it 3-0 in the second half with a long-range strike as Barcelona completed a routine win.

Barcelona kick off the defence of their Spanish league crown against Athletic Bilbao on August 23.

AFP

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